


Sin: Japan

by SashinaLash



Series: Wordplay Fic Challenge 2020 [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Harry in Japan, Japanese things, Louis in Japan, M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:47:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25387804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SashinaLash/pseuds/SashinaLash
Summary: Harry and Louis in Japan and what freedom feels like.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Series: Wordplay Fic Challenge 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818505
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33
Collections: Prompt 3.4: Sin





	Sin: Japan

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "sin". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sin), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1-3), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/622306139518926848/wordplay-2020-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).  
>   
> Maybe I just wanted to write some poetry about freedom from judgment, about being yourself, about acceptance. And how that is expressed when there really is no 'wrong'. It's just about love, really. It's always about love.  
>   
> I'm [SashinaLash](https://sashinalash.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr.

There’s almost a Japanese word for sin— _tsumi_ —but the concept of sin as a violation of a moral code, and of original sin an innate and something requiring redemption by the grace of a divinity, is absent in Shinto. Humanity—as every element of nature—is considered to be innately divine, and innately good. In Japanese tradition, _harae_ —purification—is a ritual gesture meant to remove all evil and pollution that might disturb one’s connection with this innate sacredness.

Harry and Louis have pondered this, on every visit to Japan: why they're here, and how it always feels so right, so many years on.

***

[Thoughts from the floor] The firmness of the mattress, and in turn, the tatami mat, and the timber floor, and the quiet air below that, and further down, the sloping rock, all hold Harry level and still: his entire body heavy and even, his head slightly raised on the bunched up _shikibuton_ , arms fully outstretched behind his head. Twisting his wrists, he lets his fingertips touch the soft rush surface of the tatami, back and forth across its woven surface, dipping slightly into in the almost-invisible fastenings, a tiny anchoring to the earth. His feet are turned outwards, his little toes also contemplating the rhythm of the rush, its fine ridges and their smoothness. Some believe it’s bad luck to step on the edge bindings of a tatami mat; he’s not sure if that applies to an accidental touch when lying down. The brocade edging feels lovely.

Lying flat like this, his spine is slightly arched—it is impossible to lie completely flat—but feeling that connection with as much of his body as possible to the ground, to the earth, to this place. The east-facing slope outside is so steep, the entire view from Harry’s low viewpoint is dark red pines, a tapestry of distant deep green, their celebrated deeply coloured bark never able to be illuminated by the afternoon sun. In the foreground, just beyond the windows the _karesansui_ —the traditional rock garden—static and calm, although they were told the gravel pattern is new this visit, for spring.

Louis is sprawled on one of the pair of low chairs on the decking overlooking the garden. In half an hour, his only movement—apart from slow page turns of his book—a tiny nudge of his left foot outwards.

This place provokes miracles, Harry is sure.

***

[Harry writes the calmest words in Japan]

Everything is present in this room,

All we have brought with us once again -

Our own home-made rituals: quiet sake whispers, and even quieter kisses.

This is the ritual—our own cleansing (wherever, but Honshu version, this time):

I make you shut up

You make me sleep.

Shoes off

Turn the dial (every dial) down, almost as far as it will go

( _Further, baby -_

 _There is no hurry, we’re here, we have all the time_ )

We have all the time. So much time.

*

A week in,

Drunken slips in socks on rush, stupid normal human fails

(I almost broke a couple of bones the first weekend; _you idiot goofball_ , you wanted to say, like you always do, I know, but it’d ruin the zen, so you gently kissed my ankles better)

We’re human, we’re normal, you and me

(a fun thought; it’s your job to remind us)

deep-breathing our way through our own self-imposed furlough.

*

(Six years ago, weirding out in a makeshift tour bus studio, tossing out lyrics

 _Mine’s fucking gayer than yours_ , you said

– we all laughed

And then ten eyes contemplated the swirly, synthetic carpet for just a second too long

– _Yeah right_

And moved on.)

Five years of episodes just like this.

Being unpicked one messed up stitch at a time.

*

Now it’s private poetry slams in the hills above Nagoya

Getting each our words in the right order

Haikus and pop songs as incantations,

dusk vespers over matcha tea

The whole damn thing’s an ablution, a purification

Repetitive, as a ritual must be

Yet unyielding of results

It’s a kind of rinse and repeat cycle (your joke, I’ll pay it)

We’ve been on it how long?

I know you’re still dizzy; me too.

*

We’re in bed by ten

You always insist on sleeping in your _yukata_

(Oh how I love you)

Everything’s softer by degrees here:

Your hair, more than usual

Your fingertips on my chest

(I love how I can feel you’ve been practising guitar)

Our breath in the silence

Our sleep.

We’re praying for another year.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who gave such lovely feedback about my [first two Wordplay fics](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818505), and especially to my lovely little band of Tumblr (and real life) cheerleaders: you're the best.  
>   
> There is a [fic post](https://sashinalash.tumblr.com/post/624176326768771073/wordplay-fic-challenge-2020-sashinalash-week) on Tumblr you can reblog if you enjoyed reading. Thank you!


End file.
